DANDELIONS 19 
have we not who have greens in the winter and 
tomatoes out of season, have we not converted 
the season of edibles to our own impoverishment? 
I recall with zest such a rampage of hunger when, 
as a lad, I hailed the advent of the first radishes, 
and the first watermelon sent me turning happy 
somersaults. Now, through the proper household 
authority, I buy a radish insipid and unsapid and 
eat it with a shrug. And not all advancement is 
in progress. I shall not quarrel with such as, in 
spring appetite, search for and uproot dandelions. 
People have some rights the same as dandelions 
have. The entirety of privilege never does reside 
on one side of a garden fence, anyhow. 
And some use dandelions for medicine. On 
whose authority I do not know, nor for what 
they are remedial can I guess. Though there 
may be justification in taking sunlight as a body 
would if he drank this flower. Dying that others 
may not die, is an heroical activity, though fatal 
to the hero. However, if a body be not out for 
spring greens, nor an herbalist intent on medical 
design, where is the justification of slaughter of 
these smiling innocents? I am temporary pro- 
prietor of a lawn, sown to grass (by assumption) 
but owned by dandelions, in fact. I have been 
bidden to expurgate this text of the dandelion. 
The bid has been dictatorial and without any 
pivot and misunderstanding. My instruction is 
unequivocal, if the truth be whispered, but I have 
been bound to reply that it would be a less task 
